a thread opens
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
The Vigil
Today’s scroll, one verse at a time — each linked to the last by the cross-references rather than by any model of you. The same vigil for everyone, and a different one tomorrow.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.
Saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who are, and were, and are to come; because you have taken to you your great power, and have reigned.
And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me.
from Acts 20:21
Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
from Acts 26:18 · a strong link
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
from Acts 5:31
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
from I John 1:7
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 13:38
And when she was baptized, and her household, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and remain there. And she constrained us.
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
from Acts 16:15
He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and apparel.
from Hebrews 13:2
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
from Deuteronomy 10:18 · a strong link
Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
from Psalms 68:5
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
from Acts 17:31
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a roar, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works in it shall be burned up.
from II Peter 3:7 · a strong link
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
from II Peter 3:10
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered to him the whole band of soldiers.
from Matthew 20:19
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
from Matthew 27:27
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
Circumcise therefore your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
from Acts 7:51 · a strong link
In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
from Deuteronomy 10:16
That you put off your old self, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
from Colossians 2:11
For we ourselves also were formerly foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
from Ephesians 4:22
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
from Titus 3:3
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
from Acts 9:15
But cursed be the deceiver, which has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the pagans.
from Romans 1:5
He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
from Malachi 1:14
Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that stayed at home divided the plunder.
from Psalms 76:12
And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel struck on this side Jordan on the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even to the mount Halak, that goes up to Seir; which Joshua gave to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;
from Psalms 68:12
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Revelation of John 16:6 along this chain. Today’s own vigil is laid separately.
Each verse follows the one before it along the chain a study Bible draws — a century old, public, and compiled by people arguing about Scripture rather than about how long you stay. Every card says which verse it came from and opens the chapter it belongs to. Today’s vigil is the same for every reader and is worked out from the date alone, so there is no account, no counter, and nothing stored in your browser or ours.
The text is the Lantern Modern Standard. The links are openbible.info’s cross-reference set (CC BY), the same apparatus behind the reader’s Echoes drawer. Read a whole book · Today’s table